In the Greek summer of 2010, near the Acropolis, an ancient theatre hosted an unprecedented meeting of Greek and American musics and musicians.

Maria Farantouri sang. Charles Lloyd's quartet and two Greeks played. The mostly Greek repertoire spans thousands of years of song and poetry, including songs by Mikis Theodorakis.

Note: if you click any one of the adjacent images, you will see it much-enlarged, annotated, and in whatever is its particular 'correct' format

Mikis Theodorakis has preferred Maria Farantouri over other singers ever since he first heard her in 1963, when she was 16. She also sings Charles Lloyd's Blow Wind very effectively, in English.

Lloyd's quartet is himself on saxophones, flute and tarogato, plus three much younger virtuosi - pianist Jason Moran, double bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland. They comprise one of the world's great jazz units. They do not neglect their 'home' turf, but on Athens Concert they mostly engage - uncannily well - with Maria, her repertoire, and with Greek pianist/arranger Takis Farazis and lyra player Socratis Sinopoulos.

There is no other album very much like this one! It is audacious, blessedly free of 'fusion' inanities and has real gravitas/duende/spirit/the proverbial 'it'.

This 'unlikely' musical success is a project not undertaken suddenly, nor lightly. It was sparked by an accidental meeting, in California, eight years earlier. Since then, the co-leaders have spent time together, every year, in her country.

BROADCAST TIME TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE COMPOSER PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER distributor/ source details, like this, in lower-case ARTIST AND CD TITLE Duration of track Description of track, in lower-case.Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

'THE WEEKEND PLANET' SUN 21.10.12

(this edition first aired in September 2011)

2205 THEME:details below, as per the original CD. This cut is also on these compilations:

2214 CD (DISC ONE) CUT 4, 'DANCE' (FROM ULYSSES' GAZE)ELENI KARAINDROU ECM VERLAG ECM 1952/53 in Australia through Fuse Music http://www.fusemusic.com.auworldwide: www.ecmrecords.comELENI KARAINDROU - 'ELEGY OF THE UPROOTING'3: 29 'Live' and haunting in Athens in 2004. This piece was originally the main theme for the 1998 film Ulysses' Gaze.

Socratis Sinopoulos is the primary soloist, playing Constantinople lyra - an upright fiddle. Vangelis Skouras plays French horn and Kostantinos Raptis the accordion. They play atop a string orchestra.

Maria Farantouri is elsewhere the featured singer on this double-album/concert. Sinopolous has a major role on Athens Concert, as you'll hear in much of this show's second hour.

Lloyd plays some 'sheets of sound' tenor sax, the quality of his quartet is unmistakable, and so is the fact that Maria is still a riveting singer, nearly half a century after she first took on the mantle as 'the voice of Theodorakis.'

GREEK SUITE ABC RADIO NATIONAL ALERT

It is in three parts, and the best two are yet to come! You can hear them, complete, in the second hour of this edition..

2349 CD CUT 9, 'TOU HEL' TO KASTRON' (THE CASTLE OF THE SUN)TRAD, FROM THE BLACK SEA, ARR BY TAKIS FARAZIS PIECE IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. ARR PUB NOT SPEC ECM 2205/06 2767833 in Australia through Fuse Music http://www.fusemusic.com.auworldwide: www.ecmrecords.comCHARLES LLOYD, MARIA FARANTOURI - 'ATHENS CONCERT'4: 10 Very powerful, turbulent, after an introduction that features lyra player Socratis Sinopoulos.